


Affections of a Pilates Ring

by cuddlesome



Category: Ring Fit Adventure (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Animate Object, F/M, Loneliness, Mute Character(s), One-Sided Attraction, Other, Secret Crush, Touch-Starved, Weird Biology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25948699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlesome/pseuds/cuddlesome
Summary: Ring really likes being held and squeezed and needed by his partner.
Relationships: Ring (Ring Fit Adventure) & Tipp (Ring Fit Adventure), Ring (Ring Fit Adventure)/Female Player Character (Ring Fit Adventure)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 18





	Affections of a Pilates Ring

**Author's Note:**

> Ring Fit Adventure is the best game on the Switch so I decided to sully it with whatever this is.
> 
> This fic was sitting in my drafts for a few weeks without a real ending so if the ending feels half-assed, it is. Sorry 'bout it, I'm too busy doing overhead hip shakes.

Ring says it might be weird for her to reach out and hold him. And it is. For both of them, on some level, though he didn’t expect that.  
  


The moment their wills connect, they’re partners. Totally in sync (except for the occasional misallignment—hey, he can’t always be perfect). All that he was prepared for. Heck, he initiated it.  
  


But..!  
  


Having her hands on him is addictive. Thinking about it takes up almost as much room in his head as workout routines. He can feel everything in those hands. Her pulse pounding in her fingertips. The tension as she pushes and pulls. The heat! Her hair flares up and it’s even better.  
  


As she runs through the world, pressing or pulling on him accordingly, he has no problem cheering on her progress. It would hurt most beings to have their bodies contorted and deformed, but he doesn’t feel any pain at all. Quite the contrary. When she squeezes him between her arms or thighs, it’s like being cuddled.

  
He likes it. Likes feeling how strong she is.

  
When he floats above, cheering her on as she planks, he longs to be back in her grip.

  
He knows that he has to let go, though, or rather, have her let go. After an hour of intense exercise today, he knows she’s pushing it. Her fingers tremble against his body. Sweat courses down her skin in a way that’s both beautiful and indicative of overexertion.

  
“Hey,” he calls out to her once they finish the run and the obligatory victory pose. “Why don’t we call it quits for now? You’ve been through a lot.”

  
She acquiesces with a nod, taking one hand off of him to wipe her forehead with her wrist.

  
“Great work today. You should take a rest and get plenty of water.” The words taste ashy, disingenuous—he doesn’t want her to go!—but he delivers them with the same amount of pep as usual.

  
She lets go of him—she doesn’t need him for this sort of stretching—and he’s left to wait. She stretches with Tipp, and then she’s gone. Ring wonders what she does in that other world when she isn’t saving this one.

  
Loneliness and cold overtake him without the familiarity of her grasp. He can’t get the feeling to go away, but he can at least distract himself from it.

“Tipp!” He floats over to him. “She was really something out there, huh? Even better than yesterday.”

Tipp nods a little as he sits down in the white void he lives in. Stoic as always. Ring has tried to strike up a conversation with the Ring-con that Tipp carries, too, but like the owner, the faceless ring doesn’t say much. But hey, at least they’re both good at listening.

Ring plops down on the ground beside Tipp. “Ahhh, this is nice. A little break from all of the bright colors and monsters. It’s great! Fantastic!”

Better to be in here than out in one of the Worlds. Ring doesn’t know what he’d do if he ran into a monster on his own. Floating away at top speed seems like the only option. Besides, even in one of the safe areas, he doesn’t feel as comfortable speaking to townspeople when he’s on his own. Come to think of it, he enjoys chatting with strong, silent types like Tipp and his partner. Maybe because it balances out how much he talks.

Still, no amount of chattering to Tipp can make him forget what’s bothering him in the back of his mind. As he looks at Tipp’s Ring-con, he gets an idea.

Ring clears his—throat? He doesn’t really have a neck, but he can swallow… what a time to be distracted by his unusual anatomy..! “Ah… Tipp, can I ask you something?”

Tipp tilts his head, then shrugs one shoulder.

“Would you mind holding me? Just for a second. And give me a squeeze? You know, like you do when you’re giving examples for my partner.”

Tipp’s blank face is unfathomable. Then he nods, once.

“Awesome!”

Tipp sets aside his blank Ring-con and picks up Ring. He presses his sides inward.

It isn’t the same. Despite the recent examples and the stretching, Tipp’s hands are cold. Ring can’t keep his head from drooping.

“Thanks. You can put me down.”

Tipp does. Ring just lays on the floor staring up at nothing.

“Sorry, Tipp, I just… miss her. It’s only been a few minutes but it feels like forever.” He draws out the last word in a whine. “I like her a lot but maybe she just puts up with me. Maybe she can’t wait to escape the sound of my voice.”

Tipp leans into his line of sight and shakes his head vigorously. It’s the most emotion he’s shown today.

Ring huffs and finds himself uncharacteristically negative.

“Why would she like me?” He snaps. “I'm a personal trainer on good days and on bad ones I'm a smoothie maker. What would she ever see in me?"

Ring blinks. Whoa! What was that? Did some of the dark influence suddenly get to him?

  
Tipp picks him up again, but this time cradles him to his body in a hug.

If the dark influence had managed to, well, influence him, it simmers down. “Thanks, Tipp.”

He doesn’t let his unrequited crush deter him from being super friendly to her the next day, nor the day after that.

“Left, right, left, right! Twenty more!”

He can deal with this for the rest of time. Or at least until she loses interest in working out and, by extension, him. Once more he has to shake the dark influence off. Because that's all it is, right? There's no way such negative feelings would come from inside of him.

This is enough. Just to be held. Just to be squeezed. Just to be needed. 

"Awesome!" Ring cheers as she contorts his body so his inner sides are almost touching, and means it.


End file.
